Maddie and Camden Meeting for the First Time

Camden's Birth Story

On Tuesday morning I woke up to Maddie saying, "I want pancakes."  Eric had turned on Daniel Tiger for her right before he left for work and in this episode Daniel and his family were eating pancakes.  I told Maddie I'd make her pancakes on Saturday (which I did!) and asked her to come help me get her breakfast.

While I was getting Maddie's food ready, I had a contraction.  It was 7:47 AM.  I'd been having a ton of Braxton-Hicks contractions so I wasn't too terribly concerned about this one.  Five minutes later there was another one, followed by another one.  My doctor (and everyone else) had assured me that I would certainly know the difference between a real contraction and a Braxton-Hicks contraction.  The real ones would make me stop what I was doing and take my breath away.  These contractions weren't doing that, they were simply more uncomfortable than usual.  It was their regularity that caught my attention.

I decided, at the risk of sounding overly paranoid, to call Eric and let him know about these three contractions just in case with time they proved to be more significant.  I also called my mom and asked her if she would take Maddie to school for me.  I did not mention the contractions to her since I didn't know what was really going on.

My contractions came pretty regularly as I continued to get myself and Maddie ready for the day.  Finally around 8:30 I called Eric and told him that I thought we might need to head up to labor and delivery to be monitored.  I told him I was going to feel really dumb for pulling him away from work if these weren't real contractions, but I also knew I didn't want to have this baby at home.

By 9:15 Eric and I had finished packing our suitcase and were ready to head to the hospital.  At this point I had had a few contractions that were only three minutes apart.  Before we left our house, I made sure Eric took a picture of me with my pregnant belly, just in case this was the real deal.

When Eric and I arrived at the hospital, he quickly filled out the paperwork and we were taken back to triage.  By this time it felt as though my contractions had subsided and I was kind of embarrassed to be there.  I hate to be wrong, can you tell?  :)  After hooking me up to a couple of monitors, the resident left the room and Eric and I watched as the monitor began to register my contractions.  At this point the contractions started becoming a little more intense.

Shortly after monitoring began, the resident came back in the room and said he wanted to go ahead and check to see if I was making any progress.  It turns out I was already six centimeters dilated!  Suddenly we were talking about being admitted to the hospital and getting an epidural.  Eric sent out a text message to our families to let them know what was happening.  My mom's response:  R u serious?  I don't believe u.

A little after 9:45 I walked myself from triage to the labor and delivery room where I continued walking around as we waited for the anesthesiologist to arrive.  By the time he arrived I was in quite a bit of pain.  I wanted to tell him that I really didn't care about the risks and to just stick the needle in my back.  At 10:30 the anesthesiologist began inserting the epidural and I heard the nurse ask Eric if he was feeling okay.  Turns out Eric was getting nauseous and was asked to sit down.

After I finally began getting some relief from the epidural, my nurse was able to continue asking admission questions.  Shortly after that my doctor came in to visit and to see how I was progressing.  Surprisingly I was already at a 10.  Dr. F suggested doing a practice push to see if Camden was ready.  Turns out he was!  Dr. F never had the chance to leave the room.  As he got dressed in his delivery gear, a team of nurses entered the room.  At 11:15 I started pushing.  Four pushes later, on October 30th at 11:26 AM, Camden was born.  He was 20 inches long and weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds, 6 ounces!

Welcome to our family, Camden!  

I'll do another post later about Maddie meeting Camden for the first time.  It made my heart so happy!

Okay Camden, here's the deal:

You have a little less than five hours left today to make your grand entrance.  If you choose to wait, then you better plan to stay in for three days.  We'd like to avoid Halloween and the surrounding days if possible.  Thank you.

39 Week Update 
Since Maddie was born early, this is the first time for me to experience 39 weeks!

Size of baby:  Camden measures about 20 inches long head to toe and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, about the size of a large rabbit.

Emily's bunny, Bernie  :)

Total weight gain/loss:  +37 lbs.  Eek!  I haven't yet reached the weight I did when I was pregnant with Maddie, but I'm getting terribly close.

Maternity clothes:  Yes, of course, and now I'm even resorting to wearing some of Eric's shirts just so I can have the extra length.

Gender:  Boy!

Movement:  Late last night and at church this morning he was moving quite a bit.  There have been several times in the past week when he's been pretty still.  I just have to keep reminding myself that there's not a lot of room left.

Sleep:  What's that?

What I miss:  Being comfortable, sleep, holding Maddie in my lap.

Cravings:  Well, I just ate three nine cookies.  Someone please take the cookies away from me!

How I'm feeling:  Ready to be done.  I know it's unlikely that my water will break early this time around, so I'm anxious to know how long I'll be laboring at home.

Highlight of the week:  Finishing up my last week at work.  It will be such a relief to not have to kneel and bend over to change diapers and reach down to pick up toys.

39 weeks

When we pull this up on our TV Maddie goes crazy, Eric gets a good workout, and I have a good laugh.  Enjoy!

Isn't it funny how when you only have one experience with something, you expect the same results the next time around?  All throughout this pregnancy I have assumed that my water would break to signal when I should go to the hospital and that Camden would be born prior to 40 weeks.  After all, that's how things went with my first pregnancy.  So here I am with 11 days to go.  At this point in my last pregnancy my water had broken and I was being admitted to the hospital.

I thought it was funny tonight when Eric asked me to play Mario Kart on the Wii.  I can't even tell you the last time we played, but I can tell you that with 11 days left of my pregnancy with Maddie my water broke while playing Mario Kart.  So Eric and I went ahead and played tonight, not truly expecting anything to happen, but thinking that it would be pretty darn funny if it did.

Wouldn't this be a great point in the post to announce that my water broke and I am currently in labor?

Well, it didn't and I'm not.  Instead I'm thinking about what I'm going to do with my preschoolers tomorrow and remembering all of the little (and big) things that I'd still like to get done around the house before Camden makes his entrance, which technically could be any day. . . but probably not tomorrow.

Several of you asked for me to tell you how Maddie's toddler clock worked out, so here's your update:

When we first got the clock we explained to Maddie that she was supposed to stay in bed until the bunny woke up.  She seemed to understand, and we went to bed feeling pretty hopeful.  Unfortunately, she was up bright and early the next morning. . . and the next morning, and the next.  Nap time seemed to be getting shorter and shorter as well.  Maddie truly did seem to understand the concept, she just didn't care.

After becoming frustrated about spending money on a clock that wasn't giving us the results we wanted and me freaking out about what would happen if Maddie was still doing this when Camden was born, we decided to try something new.  We kept the clock and the concept, but added an incentive.

I recently checked out a Halloween book for Maddie from the library and there's a picture of candy corn at the end.  Every time we'd get to that page Maddie would say, "I want some."  So we bought some candy corn and that night we told her that if she'd stay in bed until bunny woke up, then she could have a piece of candy corn.  Guess what?  It worked the very first night!  We've been using the candy corn incentive for both nighttime and nap time for a little less than a week now and she has gotten a piece of candy corn every single time.

Does this mean she actually sleeps or is quiet until bunny wakes up?  No.  We occasionally hear her cry out, but more often she just talks.  As soon as the bunny wakes up, she starts calling out, "Bunny's awake!"  We then go in her room and tell her what a good job she has done and give her a piece of candy corn, even if it is 6:35 in the morning.

So, would I recommend the clock?  Yes, but be prepared to use some sort of incentive.

I have decided to begin doing weekly updates since we have reached the final countdown.  I like how in my newest picture you can tell that I'm just about over being pregnant.  This pregnancy certainly has not been as kind to me as pregnancy #1.

38 Week Update
*Please click HERE to participate in Camden's Baby Pool.  Get your guess entered before the end of the day tomorrow!

Size of baby:  Camden weighs about 6.8 pounds and is over 19 1/2 inches long, about as long as a leek.  Sorry it's another vegetable.  Lame.

Total weight gain/loss:  +32 lbs.  Hopefully this one pound weight gain will offset the 7 pound weight gain from the previous 2 weeks.  :/

Maternity clothes:  I have nothing to wear!  No really.  I ripped an irreparable hole in one of my two pair of maternity jeans and even my maternity shirts are too short.

Gender:  Still a boy.

Movement:  Slower than before, but I don't suppose he has too much space left.

Sleep:  Horrible!  I cannot get comfortable.  Pretty much everything between my belly and my ankles aches when I lay down.  I am in desperate need of sleep.

What I miss:  Sleep.

Cravings:  Not much.

How I'm feeling:  Achy, swollen, tired, impatient, anxious, excited, not ready, so ready, etc.

Highlight of the week:  Finishing up Camden's room.  It's not completely done, but it's so much closer to being finished than it was this time last week.

38 weeks

*Please click HERE to participate in Camden's Baby Pool.  Get your guess entered before the end of the day tomorrow!

37 Week Update
*Please click HERE to participate in Camden's Baby Pool.  Get your guess entered before it's too late!

Size of baby:  Camden weighs in at 6 1/3 pounds and is a bit over 19 inches long head to heel, about the length of a stalk of Swiss chard, as if everyone knows what that is.

Total weight gain/loss:  +31 lbs

Maternity clothes:  Yes, and even the maternity shirts are getting to be a little too short.

Gender:  Boy!

Movement:  He seems to have been moving a little more this past week than he did the week before.  I only find myself doing kick counts if it seems like he's had a slow day.

Sleep:  Not terrible.  I may get up once to go to the bathroom.

What I miss:  Being able to move around easily.

Cravings:  Still the sweet stuff.

How I'm feeling:  Achy and swollen, like Fred Flintstone feet swollen.  Not pretty.

Highlight of the week:  Taking maternity photos, going to Build-A-Bear so Maddie could make a bear for Camden, and knowing that I am officially full-term!

37 weeks

*Please click HERE to participate in Camden's Baby Pool.  Get your guess entered before it's too late!

35 Week Update
*Please click HERE to participate in Camden's Baby Pool.  Get your guess entered before it's too late!

Size of baby:  Camden is over 18 inches long head to heel and weighs in at 5.25 pounds, about the weight of a honeydew melon.

Total weight gain/loss:  +23.5 pounds

Maternity clothes:  Of course.

Gender:  Boy!

Movement:  I've begun doing kick counts to make sure all is well.  I still feel the occasional squirm or jab, but nothing like the acrobatics of the past several weeks.

Sleep:  Getting worse.

What I miss:  Being able to get out of bed without using a whole lot of effort.

Cravings:  Eric says I'm craving Fanta Orange, maybe he's right.

How I'm feeling:  Achy and swollen, but excited that we're getting closer and closer to meeting Camden.

Highlight of the week:  Camden's baseball themed baby shower was this past weekend.  We received a lot of the things we need to get life started with this little guy.  Now if we can just get his room painted and ready. . . .

35 weeks

We decided to let Maddie pick out some presents to take to baby brother's baby shower on Saturday.  I knew she'd have no interest in actually choosing something off of the registry, since when you're two years old toys are much more interesting than diapers and sheets.  I also knew we had quite a few baby toys packed away and there's no sense in buying more since he's not going to play with them very much.  So, I came up with the idea of letting her shop through her old toys and whatever she "bought" (put in her shopping cart) is what we'd let her take to the shower.  Here's what happened:

She cracks me up.  I guess I'll have to go through her "purchases" and decide what she's actually going to take.  I'm glad we did it this way as opposed to going to a store to pick out a toy.  She had so much fun shopping with her pink cart.  :)

A bulleted update:

• I'm 34 weeks today.  The swelling of my feet and ankles has officially begun and there's no stopping labor once it starts.
• We cleaned out Camden's room yesterday.  Now it's just a matter of figuring out furniture arrangement and painting a border and baseball wall.
• Camden's shower is on Saturday.  I'm excited!
• Sarah's coming to town this coming weekend too!
• Someone mowed our yard while we were at church.  Thank you, whoever you are.
• Maddie loves to sing "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah."  This isn't the best video seeing as how she's running around and congested, but it's all I've got right now:

Have you ever sold anything on a consignment page or Craigslist?  Oh my gosh, it is too much fun!  I've posted several items to these sites in the last few days.  Here's what I like about it:

• Taking pictures of the item.  Seriously.  I really believe that a good quality picture of the product makes it more sell-able, even on one of these kinds of sites.  Plus the objects sit still, much unlike Maddie, so it's not too hard to get a good shot, which in turn makes me feel pretty good about my picture taking abilities. :)

• Coming up with the briefest possible description that has enough detail to catch one's eye, but not so much that they get tired of reading.
• Sitting back and waiting for a response.  It's particularly fun when the response is within a few minutes of posting.
• Making money.  Eric and I have decided to keep the money we make in a jar to put towards something.  We could use some help figuring out what that something should be, if you want to contribute your ideas.  I think it'll be better for us to purposely set the money aside, otherwise it will go in my wallet, a little will be spent here and there, and before we know it it will be gone.
• Clearing our house of unwanted items.  Less to dust, less to organize.

I suppose all of this makes me a really big nerd, but at least I'm having fun doing it!

33 Week Update

Size of baby:  Camden is approximately 17.5 inches and weighs about 4.5 pounds, about as much as a grownup duck. . . or a pineapple, but a duck's more interesting, right?

Total weight gain/loss:  +21 pounds, not bad!  :)  I don't have horribly swollen feet and legs like I did with Maddie, so I think that is helping keep my weight down.

Maternity clothes:  Yes

Gender:  Boy

Movement:  He still moves quite a bit, but I can definitely tell he's starting to run out of space.

Sleep:  Uncomfortable, but at least I don't have to get up to go to the bathroom multiple times. . . yet.

What I miss:  Being comfortable.  I think this will be my staple answer for the remainder of the pregnancy.

Cravings:  Fruit and vegetables.  Not!

How I'm feeling:  Like I have a bowling ball very low in my belly.

Highlight of the week:  Getting the remainder of my doctor's appointments scheduled.  Camden will be here before we know it!

33 weeks, 2 days

Baby Boy has had a name for a while now and I was perfectly fine keeping it a secret until I realized Maddie was saying his name more and more regularly when we asked her.  So on August 25th Eric and I were ready to reveal his name, but since several family members couldn't make it over to our house we just told my sister, Rachel, and waited for a more convenient time to tell everyone else.

That time finally came on September 7th.  My mom and Aunt Carol decided to play things up and decorated our house with balloons, a cake, and baby boy plates and napkins.  Once everyone made it over, we gave them a stack of index cards, each of which had a letter from Baby Boy's name written on it.  With a little help from Maddie, they were able to figure out the first name.  Shortly thereafter, they determined the middle name as well.

I suppose this is where I should tell YOU what Baby Boy's name is, but I'll let Maddie do the honors instead:

There you have it!  We can finally refer to Baby Boy by his name!  He does have a middle name as well, but I don't want to reveal it on here for privacy's sake.  Just ask and we'll be happy to share.  :)

P.S.  Am I the only one who can't get her child to look at the camera and smile on cue?

I really wish I was one of those people who cleaned house when stressed out. . . instead I eat.  :/  After half a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, I just feel sick.  I really should find a new stress reducer.

What do you do when stressed?  Bake, clean, sleep, exercise?

Just one of the sweetest things ever:

As for the lyric change, Mrs. Bobbi is one of her Sunday School teachers.  :)

31 Week Update

Size of baby:  Baby Boy is over 16 inches long and weighs 3.3 pounds, about the weight of four navel oranges.

Total weight gain/loss:  +22.5 pounds.  I didn't keep a record of my weight gain with Maddie, but I know I gained over 40 pounds.  So unless I pack on a lot of pounds in these last nine weeks, I don't anticipate breaking the 40 pound mark.  Yay!

Maternity clothes:  Same as the last 8 weeks, but now I can add that I have a dress to wear for Baby Boy's shower.  :)

Gender:  Boy

Movement:  He loves to hang out on my right side.  I can feel him dragging body parts (hands, feet, elbows, knees?) along my side and that can be painful.  I really wish I could see inside my tummy so I would know exactly what he's doing in there.

Sleep:  Not good.  I still have a hard time getting comfortable and rolling over is horrible.  It also doesn't help that Maddie has been waking up around 2 or 3 AM for the last few nights.

What I miss:  Being comfortable.

Cravings:  Like I've written before, I'm eating a lot of sweets, but I don't think it's really a craving.  I think it's lack of self-control.  :/

How I'm feeling:  Shocked that we're in the single-digit countdown!  Nine more weeks!

Highlight of the week:  See above.  I still can't believe it.  If he's early like Maddie, it will be more like a 7.5 week countdown!  Eek!

31 weeks

29 Week Update

Size of baby:  Baby Boy weighs about 3 pounds and is a little over 15 inches long, about the length of a loaf of bread.

Total weight gain/loss:  +21 pounds.  I'm really hoping to keep my weight gain to 30-35 pounds.

Maternity clothes:  This is becoming pretty repetitive.  Pants, yes.  Shirts, sometimes.

Gender:  Boy

Movement:  Yes.  This morning during church it felt like he was trying to stretch out across my stomach, but I don't think there are 15 inches of room for him to stretch in!

Sleep:  Not pleasant.  Nearly every time I roll over I end up getting a Braxton-Hicks contraction.  I recently started sleeping with a body pillow which is a little more comfortable, at least for my hips.

What I miss:  Being able to do things comfortably--sleep, bend over, hold Maddie, etc.

Cravings:  Still the usual sweets.

How I'm feeling:  I'm beginning to feel a little overwhelmed that Baby Boy will be here in 11 weeks or less.  I guess it's time to make a final decision on his name and to get started on his nursery.

Highlight of the week:  Entering my last trimester!  I'm also still loving how much Maddie adores her baby brother.  She pretends to hold him, sings to him, and talks to him.

29 weeks

Well it's a few days later than planned, but here is an update on Eric's hip:

After five hours of surgery Eric's surgeon told us that what we had thought was likely bone death was in fact a recurrence of the giant cell tumor.  Just like last time he removed the tumor, used adjuvants such as liquid nitrogen to kill any remaining cells, and then filled the affected area with bone cement.  The remainder of the bone that he dug the original bone cement from was filled with bone graft.  A funny little side note:  Eric hates what he refers to as "dead people stuff."  This means that if you die, he doesn't want you to leave anything to him.  Well it turns out the bone graft that was used in his femur was from a cadaver.  Oh, the irony!  :)

It took longer than expected for Eric to come out of recovery because they were having trouble managing his pain.  Finally, 10 hours after arriving at the hospital, Eric was admitted to a room.  He was in good spirits and requested Whataburger for dinner.  That was a bad idea. . . anesthesia=nausea=vomit.

We ended up spending two nights in the hospital.  Maddie came up to visit Eric a couple of times and found all kinds of buttons that she desperately wanted to push.

Since being home Eric has done really well for the most part.  He's doing his best to help out with chores and Maddie, despite being on crutches and not being allowed to put weight on his right leg.  Eric will remain on crutches and off of his right leg for two months.  After that he'll spend about one month on one crutch as he adjusts to bearing weight on his leg.  This means that he should finally be able to bear weight without crutches around the time Baby Boy arrives.

So what will Eric's future be like in regard to his hip?  We don't really know.  His surgeon, who is also his doctor, believes that at some point Eric will need a hip replacement.  He said it could happen as soon as six months from now, it could be in 30 years, or Eric may prove him wrong and never need one.  Eric will continue to go for yearly follow-ups for at least the next 10 years to monitor for anymore recurrence of the tumor, as well as to simply see how his hip is holding up.

Thank you for your prayers about Eric's surgery and recovery.  Please continue to pray for his recovery as he returns to school next week.  Oh, and say a prayer for me too if you think about it.  I am officially in my third trimester (yay!), but instead of being able to take things a little easier I'm going to be working a little harder to keep up with Maddie, the house, work, and Eric's needs.  We have plenty of family and friends around to help out, I just need to remember to ask for help.

Tomorrow morning Eric is scheduled for hip surgery.  You can look at this post to see what got us to this point.  Eric seems pretty indifferent about the whole thing.  I'm thinking he doesn't remember the pain involved with his first surgery.  I, on the other hand, am terribly anxious.  Please pray that the surgeon is able to remove the metal and cement successfully.  I think that's really the biggest concern, other than the small chance that what we believe to be bone death is not that at all.

Another seemingly silly thing that I'm anxious about is that while I'm in the waiting room, Maddie will be on the road to Austin with my mom to pick up Rachel from the airport.  Maddie has never traveled out of town without me and I'm sure she'll be fine, but I know I'll be nervous.

Assuming all goes as planned with the surgery, we should be settled back at home by Saturday and I'll update on how everything went at that point.  In the meantime, I sure hope I can manage to find a comfortable way to sleep on a hospital couch for two nights!

27 Week Update

Size of baby:  Baby Boy is about 14.5 inches long and weighs almost 2 pounds, about as hefty as a head of cauliflower.

Total weight gain/loss:  +18 pounds.  Seems like a lot when you realize the baby only weighs 2 pounds.

Maternity clothes:  For sure with pants and occasionally with shirts.

Gender:  Maddie's going to have a baby brother!

Movement:  All the time.  He kicked Maddie's hand the other night and she said she felt it, but she didn't react so who knows.

Sleep:  Starting to get uncomfortable.  Every time I roll from one side to the other I can definitely feel the added weight of my belly.

What I miss:  Not worrying about what I eat.  I've never been a particularly healthy eater, but since I have this little boy that is depending on me and what I consume, I feel guiltier than ever about my eating habits.

Cravings:  I ate 11 Oreos over the course of this afternoon.  Enough said.  See above.

How I'm feeling:  Big.  I get up and down a lot while playing with Maddie and I'm finding myself having to get into a crawling position before pushing myself up from sitting to standing.

Highlight of the week:  Talking to Maddie about what she's going to do with Baby Brother.  We've been reading her a book titled I'm a Big Sister and she has started picking up on things that big sisters can do.  She tells us she's going to "hold her, rock her, and sing baby songs."  Don't worry, we're working on using the correct pronoun.  :)

27 weeks

Maddie is 2 today!

2010

2011

2012

Happy birthday, big girl!

25 Week Update

Size of baby:  Baby Boy weighs a pound and a half and is 13.5 inches long, about the length of a recorder.  Remember those?  Too bad they didn't have cool ones like these when I was in school.

Total weight gain/loss:  +17 pounds.  I'm not thrilled with it, but my doctor said he's happy.

Maternity clothes:  Definitely when it comes to pants.  Regular shirts work as long as they are long enough.  Anyone else not really a fan of maternity shirts?

Gender:  Boy!

Movement:  Yes!  I feel him rolling around a lot, which is something Maddie didn't do.

Sleep:  Not bad.

What I miss:  Two things, being able to lay on my stomach and being able to hold Maddie comfortably.

Cravings:  I've been eating a lot of ice cream lately, but maybe that's because it's summer.

How I'm feeling:  Slightly uncomfortable.  Dr. F said each pregnancy tends to be a little more uncomfortable than the one before, which is why most people only have 2 or 3 kids.  I mentioned the Duggars and his explanation for her many pregnancies is that she must be crazy.  I'm beginning to think he might be right.

Highlight of the week:  Looking obviously pregnant and not just pudgy.  The first time a stranger asked me when I was due, I was so caught off guard that I didn't answer right away.

25 weeks

Do you know what the official name is for those tar lines you see on the road?

Maddie does.

According to her they are monkey arms.  She gave them that title at the zoo last week and has since seen them in our neighborhood and called them the same thing.  She cracks me up.  :)

Tonight is Maddie's first night in her "big girl" bed.  She was so super excited when she walked into her room and saw it.  She immediately gathered her doll, glowworm and blanket and lay down.  Hopefully she'll stay there until morning!

P.S.  Ignore the upside down flowers.  When we get the bed moved where we want it, the rail will be on the other side and the flowers will be right side up.  Thanks to Emily for altering our crib bumper into a toddler bed bumper!

Our FIVE year anniversary was pretty laid back, but here are some pretty pink roses (that have opened so beautifully since then) and a delicious Oreo Layer Dessert that helped us celebrate the big day.

In the last five years we have explored Costa Rica, started our first "real" jobs, moved three times, adopted a dog, had fun in NYC, been skydiving, swam with a sea lion, bought a house, visited Washington, DC, faced Eric's major surgery, welcomed Maddie into our family, and we have begun planning for Baby Boy's arrival.  Whew!  Can't wait to see what the next five years hold!

Well Operation Get Rid of Passer was a failure.  When I first snipped the tip of the pacifier it was rendered unsuckable.  Maddie had a difficult time going to bed that night.  The next morning when she woke us up at the lovely time of 5:30, she showed me her pacifier and told me, "Daddy cut it." I'm glad he took the blame for that.  :)  Since she could still chew on the pacifier, she was not willing to let it go.

A couple of days later I cut off even more, meaning if Maddie wanted the pacifier in her mouth she had to hold it there with her hand.  This did not make her very happy.  She still had a hard time going to bed and woke up SUPER early in a terrible mood.

Yesterday morning Maddie decided to give her pacifier to Baby Brother.  Awww. . . . Later that morning we went to the library and one of the books we checked out was Pacifiers are not Forever.  She had Eric read it to her three times before bed last night!  Maybe we were making progress?  When Eric put Maddie in bed he reminded her that she had given her pacifier away.  She fussed some, like we expected, but around 2 in the morning she had a total meltdown.

Earlier in the evening Eric and I had discussed the fact that her waking up ridiculously early (and in a bad mood) was taking a toll on  us.  Maddie is also anxious to move into her toddler bed since she saw us putting it together in the garage the other day.  We thought that if we put her in her toddler bed without a pacifier she would be out of it constantly and fussing at our bedside.  In addition to all of this, Eric is going to be leaving for a two week training soon and he didn't like the idea of me handling all of this craziness by myself.  So at about 2:30 this morning we caved and gave her an uncut pacifier.  She didn't get out of her crib until 7 this morning and she was absolutely, positively cheerful when I picked her up.

Does giving her pacifier back to her mean that it's going to be harder on all of us the next time we try to take it away?  I'm afraid so.  Eric is optimistic and thinks that when she's ready to give it up it won't be so hard.  I guess we'll have to wait and see.

23 Week Update

Size of baby: Baby Boy is 11.5 inches long and weighs over a pound, about the length and weight of a Harry Potter book.

Total weight gain/loss: +16 pounds, yikes!  I've started walking 2 miles with Lucy in the mornings.  Hopefully I can keep that up and it will help keep off some of the weight.

Maternity clothes:  For pants and shorts, yes.  Just like with my pregnancy with Maddie, I am able to get away with my regular tops, although I may be stretching them out a bit.

Gender:  Boy!

Movement:  A lot!  I don't remember Maddie moving around quite this much.

Sleep:  Pretty good.  I just need to go to bed earlier.

What I miss:  Not much.  I didn't do many of the pregnancy "no-no's" prior to being pregnant, so there's not a lot to miss.

Cravings:   Nothing other than the usual sweets.

How I'm feeling:  Not too bad, just a little tired.

Highlight of the week:  Settling on a first name for the little man.  :)

23 weeks, 2 days

So I'm just a little behind.  Here's what's been going on the last TWO weeks:

• We participated in VBS at our church.  Eric helped with recreation, I did registration, and Maddie went to the nursery.  Eric and I took her to the opening program each night thinking the music and videos would be exciting, but Maddie preferred to play with the offering envelopes and Bibles.  With the exception of one rough night, each time I picked her up from the nursery she was talking away and having the best time.  Next year she'll actually be old enough to be in a VBS class!

• Eric and I have been working to get everything ready for Maddie's Minnie Mouse birthday party.

• We went to the Fourth of July parade where we saw lots of horses and important people (or people who think they're important) riding in cars.

• Eric and I went on a mini vacation this past weekend.  This also happened to be the first time we have both been away from Maddie overnight at the same time.  On Friday evening we went to a murder mystery dinner.  It turned out to be a lot of fun.  Yes, the acting was cheesy, but the mystery required thinking to solve.  Saturday morning we attempted to sleep in; we made it until 7 AM.  That afternoon we toured Cowboys Stadium.  We attended a Rangers game with Chuck and Sarah that evening and thanks to the cool weather, it was probably one of the best baseball games I've ever attended.  Sunday morning we attempted to sleep in again, and this time we both managed to sleep a little longer.  I think we were both anxious to get home and see Maddie, so after brunch we headed back.

• Tonight is Maddie's first night without her pacifier, or "passer" as she calls it.  She only uses it for naps and bedtime, but with her second birthday coming up we decided it was time to get rid of it.  I read about several ways to encourage a child to give it up and in the end I chose to cut off the tip.  It did not go well.  She cried and cried and cried.  Those people online who said their child just said that the pacifier was broken and gave it up without a problem must be lying.  Over an hour after putting her to bed, she is finally asleep.  I can only hope that tomorrow's nap won't be so hard.

21 Week Update

Size of baby: Baby Boy weighs three-quarters of a pound and is 10.5 inches long from head to toe, about the size of a Clementine Izze.

Total weight gain/loss: +11.5 pounds

Maternity clothes:  I think I am officially into maternity pants.  Lately I've either been wearing dresses or a pair of super cheap maternity shorts I found at Ross.

Gender:  Boy!  Now to figure out a name. . . .

Movement:  Yes.  :)  The other night while I was reading, Baby Boy made such a forceful movement that I was able to see it out of my peripheral vision.

Sleep:  No complaints.

What I miss:  This doesn't really have to do with what I miss about not being pregnant, but it's come to my mind a lot lately that I miss the fact that my grandparents never had the chance to meet Maddie or Baby Boy.  Two of my cousins on my dad's side are also pregnant right now and we're all due within four months of each other.  I think my grandpa would have been tickled about all of the new great-grandchildren.

Cravings:   Although I've been eating a lot of sweets, I had my first craving for something specific a couple of weeks ago.  We were grocery shopping when a bag of powdered donuts caught my eye.  I'm generally very good about only buying what's on the grocery list, but I couldn't resist those.  I ended up eating four of them in the car on the way home!

How I'm feeling: I think what I thought was a pulled muscle might actually be sciatic pain.  When I change positions it's not uncommon for me to get a shooting pain.  I need to ask my doctor about it at my next appointment.

Highlight of the week:  Maddie kissing my belly and sharing her pacifier with baby brother by holding it up against my belly.  Most of the time I don't think she understands all of this talk about a baby brother, but she did both of those things without being prompted, so who knows!

21 weeks

When we were looking to buy our house we didn't pay too much attention to the backyard other than to notice it was a nice size.  Lucy was the only one who went outside regularly and she obviously had no complaints.  :)

Last spring when Maddie was old enough to enjoy being outdoors we looked at our yard a little more closely and realized just how bad it was.  There were two small dead trees, some out of control bush-like things, and a million weeds.  Wanting Maddie to have a yard to play in, we sprayed the weeds, pulled some of them up, raked the yard, and put out grass seed.  We also dug up one of the trees and planted a new one.  A few months later we once again had a yard full of weeds and our new tree wasn't looking so great.  The super hot summer with very little rain didn't do much to help us out.

This year we decided to try again, with a little more effort on our part.  Eric cut down one of the dead trees and dug up the other.  He also cut down the bush-like things.  We sprayed the weeds, pulled some of the large ones, and then Eric tilled the entire yard a couple of times.  Some stinky compost was added, the yard was tilled some more and then we put out grass seed.  A new tree was planted along with some rose bushes.  We've been super diligent about watering and in a little less than three months our yard has gone from this:

to this:

Maddie has spent so much of her time on the patio that it's taking her a little while to warm up to the idea of actually walking on the grass, but she's beginning to venture out there more and more.  Yay for a nice lawn for Maddie and Baby Boy to play in!